3) Another thing to guard against is allowing a facility to consult a “POA” or power of attorney, when that power of attorney may have no designated health care powers.  A power of attorney usually refers to financial powers and one must read the document closely to see if there are also health care powers.  I have noticed that once a POA is documented in a person’s chart, that person automatically tends to become the health care representative, no matter what the document says.

The point of these examples is that we must stay watchful when advocating for those who have advance directives.